EXCLUSIVE: Early review of THE ITALIAN JOB!

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Source: "The Dude" in San Antonio

Paramount Pictures is starting to countdown the days until the release of THE ITALIAN JOB, which is a remake of the 1969 action comedy that starred Michael Caine. As is the practice of Hollywood studios, test screenings are held to gauge audience reaction from the work-in-progress...and it seems one was held last night in the lovely town of San Antonio, Texas. Lucky for us we had a friend in attendance who wrote this report. WARNING! Our scooper's review of THE ITALIAN JOB does contain some SPOILERS, one of which you'll have to swipe with your mouse if you want to find out.

"I was fortunate enough to see an advanced screening for THE ITALIAN JOB tonight. They were giving away tickets to entertainment focused businesses around San Antonio, TX, and my brother was able to nab some. The version I saw was deemed 'a work in progress', the music was not final and the special effects were not done apparently. However, this did not distract from the movie, so I feel I got a good idea of how the movie will be in the final cut. To sum up the movie I would say it's a fun ride. The cast is great, with Seth Green (whom was funnier than usual as a computer hacker), Mark Wahlburg (who does a decent job of portraying the leader of the band of thieves), Jason Statham (Walburg's close friend), Charlize Theron (the daughter of the former leader of the band of thieves, also Walburg's love interest), the always exceptional Edward Norton (SPOILER, swipe to reveal: a member of the group who seems to parallel his character in THE SCORE...END OF SPOILER), and a whole slew of other characters.

"This movie does what it is meant to do, entertain you. There is no deep plotline, not too much of the love relationship between Wahlburg's character and Charlize Theron's, but just a fun heist movie which is often very humorous. The movie has the fun style of OCEAN'S ELEVEN, the heist elements of THE SCORE and THE HEIST, and the car chases of GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS.

"Overall I would recommend this movie, it's a fun and overall entertaining movie, and should be all the better in the final cut. Now, for all those who don't want spoilers stop reading, because here comes the plot. Donald Sutherland and his team make a daring heist in Venice, in which the end up with 32 million dollars worth of gold. After it's all said and done Norton's character screws them all over and jacks the gold, killing Sutherland's character in the process, he also believes he killed the rest of the team but doesn't. A year later, Theron's character is still upset over the death of her father, and Wahlburg's character approaches her with an offer the get back at the man who killed her father. After a little reluctance she agrees, and the planning begins. These scenes remind me of the planning portion of OCEAN'S ELEVEN. After some setbacks the heist goes down, which is very cool (like the OCEAN'S ELEVEN heist), and a bad ass car chase with multiple cars, motorcycles, and a helicopter, ensues. I won't give away the ending, but I will say it doesn't surprise anyone.


"That's about all I will say about the movie, it's fun, funny, and overall entertaining. I give it my recommendation."

[Special thanks to The Dude for writing in with their scoopage!]


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